Big Jimbo Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Afternoon all. A quick re-cap. Bought a bungalow, 1/2 acre plot, in the Green belt. Managed to get permission to extend it to about 6 times it's original size. Felt that for the good of mankind i might be better seeing if i could get 2 houses instead of 1 large house. Chucked in a quickly put together application for 2 houses on the plot, which was refused. Sat down and put my 1 worn out braincell into gear. I then undertook a site study, Footprint, Mass, Bulk, Previous developement on the site, Sightlines, sight width, Site area coverage, sustainability of the site, and a design strategy. Basically 32 A4 pages showing all the studies and conclusions. I think it is very comprehensive. I then sent this in to the planners as an application, and included drawings etc, for 2 houses. Now i know that the planning officer is overworked, however, he is Mr negative in a big way, and although i do believe that i have clearly shown, that my proposal for 2 houses, in place of the 1 large house is less detrimental to the Green belt, i will be amazed if it goes through. I am fully prepared to take it to appeal, and think i would stand a 75% chance of winning. The question i have is, as i only have 1 week to go on my 8 weeks for the planner to determine my application, shall i rattle his chain ??? If i don't then without doubt it will run over time, and i will be able to put it in for appeal for non determination. Do you think that the planning inspectorate would take a dim view of the application not being determined by the council within the time limit, and could this work in my favour....... ie, application not determined, rather than refused ??? Your thoughts Regards Jimbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BotusBuild Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 7 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said: Now i know that the planning officer is overworked, however, he is Mr negative in a big way, This says to me "be patient, and let things run their natural course". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragg987 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Not an answer to your question, but I would informally call the planner and solicit feedback on the application given that the evaluation process should be "well advanced by now". I did this with our application and got some useful feedback, though nothing definitive. I am not convinced the inspectorate would be swayed by a late decision - I would expect them to be more focussed on the merits, or not, of the scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpd Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 2 minutes ago, BotusBuild said: This says to me "be patient, and let things run their natural course". Agree, I don’t think poking a tired overworked negative planning officer would do any good...... plenty of time for that later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I took my application (4) to appeal as our planners were very negative and i won hands down. As we are so short of houses in this country you would think (if the plot will not be too crowded) the council would welcome two lots of council tax and the houses more “affordable”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 4 minutes ago, Cpd said: Agree, I don’t think poking a tired overworked negative planning officer would do any good...... plenty of time for that later +1 to that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jimbo Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 You are all such nice people. Can i have you all as my new nice neighbours if i build 1 large, or 2 smaller houses ? I promise i am a nice person, just don't have a lot of time for poor quality planning officers who can't work to timescales. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Just now, Big Jimbo said: just don't have a lot of time for poor quality planning officers who can't work to timescales. what about over worked ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragg987 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 NIMBY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jimbo Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Just now, Moonshine said: what about over worked ones? We are all overworked..... First LDC ran over time so i had to extend for him. NCS ran over time.......Bungalow to large house ran over time......The guy was taken off planning by the council due to poor performance, then put onto CIL. Taken off that because the council found he was'nt collecting CIL payments ! Put back on planning because, lets face it, the council never sack anybody. Job for life..... My daughter used to work for a different council, 30 people in her team. She said the department could easily have been run by 10 people, but needed 30 because most of the people were useless, or liked working from home. Strangly, the one's working from home never actually seemed to get any work done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jimbo Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 So, planning decision due next Tuesday.....Just rang the planning officer dealing with the application, and guess what...... He has not even looked at it yet !!!!!!! Best part of 8 weeks, and he has not yet even looked at it.......... This is'nt some newly qualified kid. This is a guy who has been a planning officer for over 20 years. So exactly what have i just paid £840 quid for. Some people need to find a new job. So do i put it in for appeal next week, due to non determination ? Or do i write to his boss again, as i have had to do with all previous applications ? My councils planning dept are total rubbish. Your thoughts ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 23 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said: My councils planning dept are total rubbish. Are they not all rubbish? I am yet to hear of a good one!!!! Perhaps it’s just underfunding that leads to long lead times? “Just in time” or just “late”. 25 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said: So do i put it in for appeal next week, due to non determination ? YES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 With some councils it it is not possible to speak to the planning officer. Did you ask when he estimated would be determining the application? If not, phone back and ask. If you do not like what you hear, then appeal, but bear in mind that the appeal process is several months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jimbo Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 1 minute ago, Mr Punter said: With some councils it it is not possible to speak to the planning officer. Did you ask when he estimated would be determining the application? If not, phone back and ask. If you do not like what you hear, then appeal, but bear in mind that the appeal process is several months. He said he might get a chance to look at it next week sometime. He could'nt give me any idea on if it might be negative, or positive as he had'nt even looked at it yet. I've paid for a service that i'm not getting...... why is that ok ? 5 previous applications with the same planning officer, and not a single one determined within the timescale... Going back years when i was in banking, i used to start at 7am and finish at 4. At my annual big boss meeting they said that they were concerned about my commitment to the job, as i did'nt work a load of extra hours for free for them. My counterpart on the other hand, worked from 7am untill 9 or 10pm. I made a lot more profit for the bank than he did, and also gave him a lot of my deals so that he could make his targets, and i did'nt go too far passed my targets. I said the reason why he had to work so many hours was because he was crap at his job !!! I left soon after because i had had enough of the banking system, and he had a breakdown ! Sometimes, people are just doing the wrong job, and doing it badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 I feel your pain @Big Jimbo. I cannot work out why anyone would be a planning officer. Understaffed, underfunded, not respected yet requires wide ranging skills and knowledge. I don't think an extra week or two would make me bother to appeal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagas Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 Seems a bit odd that he hasn't even looked at it at this late stage. Did the Parish council approve it? If so you might get ready to have it called into committee if the planning officer says he's going to refuse it. If the parish objected to it you might want to start trying to find a local councillor who will call it into committee for you. I personally wouldn't give the planning officer a hard time, I'd just be preparing for the planning committee. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_r_sole Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 (edited) . Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagas Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 I guess every local authority is different. I got very lucky and had an application approved in 5 weeks for a dwelling in the middle of an open field. My subsequent small variation application took about 12 weeks. Other applications typically took 8/9 weeks. I always thought the planning officers made their minds up quite early on if it's going to be a refusal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Big Jimbo said: So, planning decision due next Tuesday.....Just rang the planning officer dealing with the application, and guess what...... He has not even looked at it yet !!!!!!! Best part of 8 weeks, and he has not yet even looked at it.......... It was the same for us. At seven weeks I went in and asked if the application was likely to be approved and they hadn't looked at it either. The excuse was loss of staff and having to sort out a new planning policy. They ended up refusing everything and after appeal we went to committee and won unanimously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 You’ll be about 3 days from the phone call requesting a time extension agreement, then . Ours do not look at it until the end of the comment period, essentially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 An Appeal for non-determination (written representation) can take 27 weeks or more. If you want a hearing it's longer. I would give the planning officer more time but make sure you know the time limits for appealing because if you miss that the planners can drag it out for ages. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 On 07/06/2019 at 17:40, Temp said: An Appeal for non-determination (written representation) can take 27 weeks or more. If you want a hearing it's longer. I would give the planning officer more time but make sure you know the time limits for appealing because if you miss that the planners can drag it out for ages. What is the time limit for appeal due to non determination? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) You must appeal within 6 months of the date on which the determination was due. I believe that means the Date the planning application was validated + 8 weeks + 6 months. I would not leave it to the last moment in case there is some issue with getting the appeal paperwork validated. Edit: if your house is over 1000sqm they have 13 weeks instead of 8. Edited June 9, 2019 by Temp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 With our planning application we were on application number 4, I went to see a planning consultant who was local and knew the planners well. I explained I had wasted over a year so far and was desperate to start so he suggested I made a planning application that the council would accept (room in roof with veluxes) but with the ground floor exactly what we wanted and if that passed then work could start and continue up to first floor level, in the meantime appeal application number 1 (exactly what we originally wanted) which he thought had a very good chance of winning (in fact the planner told me if I went to appeal I would probably win? ). So application number 4 passed, we started work and by the time the brick and blockwork started we won our appeal hands down and built the second floor as a proper cottage. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 On 07/06/2019 at 17:38, Ferdinand said: You’ll be about 3 days from the phone call requesting a time extension agreement, then . Ours do not look at it until the end of the comment period, essentially. I think Big Jimbo will be getting that call today! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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